


Something In the Wind

by treefrogie84



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Fall festivals, Gen, Werewolves, Winchesters in passing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-16
Updated: 2019-10-16
Packaged: 2020-12-31 01:40:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21037355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/treefrogie84/pseuds/treefrogie84
Summary: It's mid-October, the moon peaks at around 4:30 in the afternoon, and she needs toget out of this car. A tiny fall festival sounds like a great way to spend some time before Kate retreats from civilization for a few days.





	Something In the Wind

‘Welcome to Arrow Rock’s Fall Heritage Festival!’ the sign proclaims in cheery red and orange, followed by a bunch of smaller words that Kate doesn’t catch as she passes the sign. Grinning, she turns into the parking lot and follows the Boy Scout who waves her towards the back of the lawn.

She thinks about catching the bus into the village, but the full moon is already making her antsy-- that’s the whole reason she stopped-- and being on a cramped school bus, even if it’s just a half mile or so, won’t help.

The place is… charming. Maybe a few dozen houses, all tastefully dressed up for the festival with pumpkins and gourds scattered across wide porches and along straw bales. A picturesque small town autumn.

The town is filled to the brim with tourists, wandering along the main (only?) street in town with its flagstone gutters and wooden sidewalks. Every store in town has their doors thrown wide open, welcoming people in to buy things (one of a kind art! declares one sign, when Kate’s seen the exact same thing across half a dozen festivals this summer) or just watch as an artisan exhibits some nearly dead craft.

She wanders the street for a few hours, grabbing lunch from the only restaurant in town, nearly overwhelmed by the number of people, before the call of the moon starts to overwhelm her and she gets twitchy.

Thanking the knitter in front of her for the demonstration-- knitting machines are ancient, who knew-- Kate heads back towards her car.

An impromptu car show has sprung up in the parking lot a few rows away from her car. Classic cars and trucks ranging from a 1934 Packard to a 1983 Corvette. Kate wanders over just for the sheer spectator of it, carefully not touching the Delorean her dad would want or the late fifties Cadillac her mom always loved. Her fingers itch to pull out her phone, snap photos, send them to her parents, let them know that she’s still alive but…

She snaps her head up at the low familiar growl along the road, waiting precious seconds to actually _see _the shiny black that goes along with it before she sprints back to her car, ignoring the startled men and women around her.

The Impala pulls to a stop in front of her before her trembling hands can force the key into the door lock.

“Kate?” one of them calls, she doesn’t remember which one is which, for all that they haunt her nightmares. “What are you doing here?”

“Nothing,” she snarls around a mouth suddenly too full of teeth, claws suddenly piercing her palms.

“Doesn’t look like nothing,” the shorter one-- Dean, that’s right-- points out, still standing behind his car door. “You’re wolfed out in the middle of the afternoon.” The bright sunshine she’d been enjoying fifteen minutes ago feels cold now, glinting off the barrel of Dean’s gun as he holds it, just barely out of view of the civilians that surround them. “Are we going to have a problem?”

Closing her eyes, she forces the change back, forces the terror back. “No.”

Sam mutters something to Dean that she can’t be bothered to listen to. Taking a few moments to breathe, she opens her eyes to see Sam looking at her with something like pity and suddenly she just can’t take it anymore.

“I’m leaving. You don’t need to worry about me.”

“Full moon’s tonight, isn’t it?” Sam asks. “Are you alright?”

She snorts. “This afternoon. And of course I’ll be alright. I just need-- Forget it. I’m leaving.” Ripping open her car door, she throws herself inside, ignoring the clink of jars in her bag. Apple butter. It was supposed to be a treat for getting through yet another full moon without going insane or killing herself. But somehow, she’s not sure if she’ll be surviving this one.

Sometimes, she really misses being able to call her mom.

“You don’t--” Sam shouts after her as she backs out of her parking space. Anything else gets lost in the wind blowing through her open window.

She stops, miles away, as the moon hits its peak and become impossible to ignore. Parking at the trailhead, Kate drags a bag over her shoulder, and picks a trail at random, trying to get as far from people as she can.

Of all the ways being a werewolf sucks, this is probably the biggest one. If she’s not completely centered, calm and collected and one with the fucking Force, she doesn’t trust herself around people. Or livestock. Or anything anyone might miss.

It’s turning her into a halfway decent woodswoman, but that’s the sole highlight. She finally gets why Mom always wanted to go camping.

She lets herself go nuts a bit when she’s well away from people, allowing the change to overtake her and loping along the rough trail until she’s worked off the worst of the full moon anxiety and jitters.

The pizza guy looks bored when he delivers a pizza to the campground at the front of the park, the cookie delivery girl less so. But a large meat lovers and a dozen pumpkin spice sugar cookies-- decorated to look like pumpkins even!-- sure help with her stress levels and turn the evening back around.

Close enough for delivery is probably too close to humanity for what she already knows is going to be a rough full moon, but she’s too tired to move now, belly full and relaxed with so much sugar running through her veins. Taking a deep breath, she relaxes fully, lets the change take her, and hopes she doesn’t destroy her car while lost in the moon haze.

**Author's Note:**

> I love Kate. Like, a lot. And I really hope she's doing okay.


End file.
